(to christians)can people who are not christian go to heaven?

Question

think about the question deeply. there are people who are good people but arent christians. there are bad people who believe in christianity. there are people who've never heard the concept of jesus or christianity?

do you think god judges us mainly on believe that jesus was his son or on how good of a heart we had with our time on earth/

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AtIwJNAQcFd8vkc8Je73_V3sy6IX?qid=20060717063934AA126To

keep this in mind

Answer 1

Good question, difficult to answer...

I'm a Christian... And sometimes I do ask myself the same question. And in the family we've talked about this topic for several times.

I can't imagine that those who never heard of God but do live in a good way don't go to heaven.

For instance there are people / volunteers that don't believe in God but they do good things by helping others. Like helping the homeless, refugees and all others in need...
Will a non-believer go to hell even though he or she lived for the lives of others??? I wonder........

You can't blame those who never heard of Jesus... How can they live by the rules of the ten commitments if they never heard of it???

I find it also hard to believe that my ancestors who never heard of Jesus but did live close to nature went straight to hell...
(I'm talking about almost 400 years ago and beyond)

But I don't know what happens with those who heard of Jesus and do not accept Him after hearing / knowing about the story of His existence...
Sometimes I think by denying His existence after you heard about Him you're doomed...
But than again I'm only human... What do I know about Gods way of thinking...

It's your choice to live with or without Him...
You can't force someone to believe...
It has to come from within, if you know what I mean...
No one is happy by being forced to do anything or believe in something, right?

God gave us FREE will...
So no one should force you to believe in Jesus...
The only thing you can do as a Christian is to spread out His words...

At the end I THINK God judges us on our behaviour an not ONLY on wether you did believe in Jesus or not...

Answer 2

I'm not a Christian, and that's one of the main reasons why.

Anybody who tells you 'yes they can' is not a 'true' Christian in the sense of literally interpreting the Bible. The Bible is very black-and-white about it. Only those who have 'accepted Jesus' will go. So, for the rest of us good people, it's the Lake of Fire...

I'm inclined to doubt that any God that might exist would be so petty. But if Christianity didn't claim to have the sole key to God's heaven, it wouldn't have survived 2000 years.

Note the answers here:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AsxxN6hFNsFBDFPBYyLYfuXsy6IX?qid=20060630044542AA4fitN

Answer 3

Depends on who you ask. Jesus says in John 14:6 "No one comes to the Father [God, Heaven, etc.] except through me." Conservative Christians will tell you that this means there is no way into Heaven except going through Jesus, i.e. being a Christian. Liberal Christians would say this means that the spirit of Jesus is found in all good acts, therefore when people do good on earth, and live good lives, they are acting with the spirit of Jesus and they have found the Father through acting as Jesus acted. They can therefore enter heaven through Jesus, the gate (John 10:9).

No one knows for sure. It depends on how you take your Christianity. Some people are comfortable with a God that condemns unbaptized babies and the majority of people in the world (those who never really have a shot at Christianity) to Hell for eternity. Others think that God is fundamentally fair and friendly and so on, and that He will have mercy on all good people. You're not a bad person just because you pick one version of God or the other. You can still be a Christian - there is plenty of biblical support for either position. You just have to figure out where your moral/religious compass points you.

Answer 4

The answer to your question is, yes, there are those who are not "christians" who will go to heaven. Who are they? They are described in Romans chapter 1. Those who have never heard the gospel of Christ will be judged by what they know, not what they do not.

Those who have been presented with the gospel of Christ and reject it will be judged by what they have been told also. They will have heard about how:

1. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
I don't know of any person who would say that they
are perfect (though I have met many who act like
they are - both Christan and non-Christian.)

2. The penalty for sin is death (seperation from
fellowship with God - first spiritual then physical)

3. There is nothing that we can do to correct this
situation. We sin. We're good at it. There is
no number of "good works" that we can do to
make up for the sin. Besides, if we got to heaven
if our good works outweighed our bad works
then, conceivably, there could be a situation where
God could say, "You know what? If you had done
just one more good thing we would have made it."
How fair would that be? No, we are all in the same
boat. Lost in our sins in need of a Savior.

I'm not saying that non-Christians cannot do good.
People are able to do many good things but that
is not the problem. The problem is that these
"good works" aren't a solution to the seperation
from God.

4) Jesus Christ was born, suffered the death on the
cross for payment of our sins, then rose on the
3rd day as a witness of God's acceptance of His
sacrifice. "He made Him, Who knew no sin to be
sin for us that we might have the righteousness of
God in Him." (II Cor. 5:32) And there is now no
condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
(Rom. 8:1)

5) Those that accept the sacrice of the Christ for their
sins are saved, those who do not are condemned.
(John 3:16 - 18)

Does this seem unfair to you? Would you prefer a heaven where someone could say, "I know why I'm here: I worked hard, I was a good person, I did the best that I could. So much better than YOU. Frankly I don't know why you're here. I know that I would not because I am wholly unworthy of the magnificent gift of a relationship with God.

You also are being offered this gift (Rom. 6:23). What will you do? Will you choose to accept the gift or will you reject His love for you demonstrated by the sacrifice He was willing to make?

Just remember, while you do get to choose what you will accept or reject, you do not get to choose the consequenses of those choices. They have already been determined.

Thanks for the forum to share this good news.... I wish you peace.

Answer 5

You can only go to heaven if you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is your savior... Jesus is THE ONLY WAY to heaven....

good works will not get you into heaven

You are judged on your "new" heart... the way you act AFTER you are saved

Everyone will get the chance to hear about Jesus.... God is fair and just.. He puts some one in each and every place.. every nook, cranny and corner of the world to help lead people to Christ... No ear will go with out hearing the Good News

as far as babies go.. there is an age (not sure what) that the parents are held accountable for the child... children that are like 10 months can hardly talk so of course God won't send them to Hell

Answer 6

Welll......according to my church (I'm a Christian of the Lutheran variety - ELCA), the only requirement to get into Heaven is to accept Jesus as your savior. I, too, have some issues with believing that some people, such as Jews, or Ghandi, will not be 'allowed' into Heaven. It's a hard call. As another person said, that decision is God's and God's alone, and I wouldn't be so foolish as to speak for God. BUT - that's at least what my Christian church says.

Answer 7

Think about the answer carefully. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. ALL..Now how is it that a man is forgiven? Is it by being perfect and fufilling the law? Only Jesus was perfect. Therefor how can a sinful man enter the kingdom of God? None can that is the reason for God to come to the world as a man to overcome sin and to die in the place of all who will accept the atonement of Jesus Christ. Jesus provided the way for all who accept. No sinful man will inherit the kingdom of God and no man is without sin. That Is why Jeus said I am the way. that is Why Jesus said No man comes to the father but through the son.

Answer 8

Have they asked Jesus Christ into their heart,as the Bible says?

1.Goodness doesn't get you into Heaven.
2.People who are ignorant of the Gospel of Christ, would be forgiven.
3. Yes, there are 'bad' Christians, but to do wrong, when you KNOW the Gospel, is a sin.
4. Believing in Christ makes you a Christian.
5. Asking Christ ino your heart makes you SAVED.
6.Whatever religion, the Bible says, and I believe it-can only go to Heaven THROUGH Jesus Christ.

Our time on Earth, and our deeds, have nothing to do with getting to Heaven. And YES, I believe that God will judge us, as to IF we know Jesus as our Savior. And what our behavior was like, AFTER we came to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Answer 9

The question presumes that one believes in the concept of a christian god and of heaven. I don't believe in the concept per say and frankly based on many of the "saved" people I have met wouldn't want to spend eternity with them anyway

Answer 10

God does not blame anyone for not believing in his son. If someone convinces you that Jesus was not a God, that is not your fault. God understands how you can be sold a bill of goods, and does not punish you for it. It is only people that think that God is some kind of juvenile nitwit, who loves to punish people for being themselves.

When you read the Bible, you are reading the words of stupid, immature superstitious people, and you should bear this in mind.